Hey guys! I just made a new YouTube Channel - it's called @langkahdinda which means 'Dinda's Steps'. It's about life in two cultures - for me that's Australian & Indonesian. It's in mixed language as I want it to be inclusive for Indonesians who might not be able to speak English, however there are English subtitles available - you just click on the 'cc' button on the YouTube video bottom right hand corner. Please watch, like, subscribe, and share with friends who might like the video! Will post one a week.

Suggestions for Classroom Use by Karen Bailey

I can see this content, as it develops, is likely to be able to be used in a variety of ways in the Australian Indonesian language classroom in a range of year levels. Just a few examples off the top of my head:• Discuss mixed heritage and living in two cultures as Dinda does as she gives viewers a glimpse in to the ‘Indonesianess’ in her life and the (largely) Australian parts of her life (this is something that will evolve and become more evident with more and more video clips).• Dinda’s Indonesian is not that of native speaker level as she was educated in English, so she constantly throws in English when the Indonesian doesn’t come in to her head. She is almost a second language learner like our own students. Secondary students could work in pairs or small groups to prepare a script of a small section of what she says (dictation type activity) and then improve the Indonesian used by writing an Indonesian-only script for a section of the content. The subtitles can be turned on and off using the CC button in the bottom right corner for this or other types of communicating or understanding activities teachers may want to do with the content.• Students, groups, or as a class (depending on the age level of the students) can add their own pre-prepared questions and comments for Dinda (in Indonesian of course) on the Youtube channel. This makes it a real and purposeful activity potentially covering multiple sub strands of the Communicating and Understanding strands of the Australian Curriculum.I’m sure teachers using the vlog, can and will come up with a lot more ways to provide a useful connection in their classroom to this ‘live’ look at a young Indonesian, with an Indonesian mum and Australian/Italian father who has grown up in Australia from an early age, but still very much attached to her Indonesian culture. And who knows, when Dinda’s acting career sees her with a higher profile in mainstream Australian film and TV sometime, we have ourselves a champion we can tap in to for Indonesian language in Australia!